


the plunge

by rain_at_dawn



Series: stars, scattered [29]
Category: SHINee
Genre: Fluff and Humor, Introspection, M/M, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, surprise at the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:49:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28965642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rain_at_dawn/pseuds/rain_at_dawn
Summary: 21. things you said when we were at the top of the world
Relationships: Choi Minho/Kim Kibum | Key
Series: stars, scattered [29]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1608877
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	the plunge

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted by @dreamingofminho on Twitter

_Because of the shame, Kibum starts crying. It’s not the first time he’s had to bungee jump and at least he’s not alone this time. But past the 30 feet mark on the way up, the length of the fall catches up with him; palms sweat, bottom lip trembles. He cracks one snide remark after another to alleviate the sting of losing a bet to Taemin._

_Forty feet up to the platform and the fall seems eternal. Minho’s good mood unsettles him; Kibum’s comments seem to slide off him, like raindrops off an umbrella. Kibum desperately wishes for a raincloud or five; maybe the storm would mask his tears._

_At the hundred feet mark, he breaks down completely. His knees buckle under him and his palms meet the cold surface of the platform floor. A darkness falls over him; Minho’s shadow. And then Minho’s arms are around him, a tight, firm clasp._

_“You wanna go back down?” He murmurs, careful not to let the jump coordinators pick up on his words. “I don’t mind.”_

_Instead, Kibum exhales._

_At the back of his throat, there’s laughter erupting. Perhaps it’s just nerves, perhaps it’s the warmth of Minho’s hands, one rubbing his back while the other entwines with one of his own. Kibum allows the smile to flutter across his face._

_“Just a few minutes. Stay with me?”_

_Minho crouches beside him, arm tucked around Kibum’s waist, silent and sure of his choice. Kibum doesn’t look up at him; it’s enough to hear him breathe._

* * *

The night before the big day, he’d snuck out with Minho to take a walk through Hongdae. It wasn’t late enough for the crowds of tourists to have thinned out, but that was the point. Kibum had always enjoyed the bustle, especially when he felt anchored to someone; even when they eventually had to duck into an alleyway after Minho recognized the Dispatch photographer.

The white fluorescent lights had illuminated the hole-in-the-wall which sold bulgogi skewers as if it were a neon oasis in the midst of a blue-black concrete desert. It was the type of light that took Kibum’s thoughts back to the childhood photos taken on flash cameras in the eighties and nineties. He remembered how light and delicate his mother had appeared in her wedding hanbok on her own special day.

Next to him, Minho had torn off chunks of meat off one of the skewers with his teeth. The very action had struck Kibum as so ordinary and oddly endearing.

“Yah! Don’t forget to chew before swallowing. I can’t have you passing out from choking before tomorrow.”

Minho grinned as best as he could around a mouthful of beef, yet still managed to toss out a ‘Punk’ in Kibum’s direction, accompanied by a playful tap with his foot to Kibum’s heel where they sat on a pair of upturned wooden crates.

It was the middle of autumn and chilly enough for Kibum to slide in closer to Minho’s side, just to dig him in the ribs.

* * *

_Somewhere on what feels like on top of the world, Kibum laughs in the face of danger. He giggles throughout the mandatory safety lecture, chortles when the bungee jump coordinator buckles him up and fastens him tight to Minho._

_When they’re almost near the ledge, Minho turns to him with a serious expression and tells him, “Do it for_ you _.”_

_The thing is, Kibum’s run out of things to prove to himself or anyone else, except the one thing he’s promised to the person right beside him. Right now, he knows he’ll do anything for Minho. He’ll leap, fall, even fly._

_Their hands clasp together and fingers entwine. Kibum realizes he isn’t shivering anymore; whatever tears he keeps shedding are joyful ones. Each step he’s taken to the edge has aligned with Minho’s, in every manner of speaking._

_“I like to think I’m doing this for us,” he tells Minho instead. Under the bright white light of a summer’s day, the breeze had picked up and ruffled the hair on Minho’s head around like a halo. Kibum doesn’t dare blink, preserving the moment in the flash of an eye. He can’t ask for anything more perfect._

_Except maybe he’ll ask Minho out for a drink later; he’s earned it. Or more likely, deserved it._

_In the meantime, the rest of the world spreads out beneath them. One more step forward, one more breath released._

_Minho’s hand grips him tighter; Kibum feels the hum of a pulse._

_They take the leap._

* * *

The elopement had gone smoothly and more importantly, undetected by the press. There was no paperwork filed or licenses obtained in the morning, but there were rings exchanged and for now, that’s what mattered.

“So it’s technically an engagement?” Jonghyun asks over the phone, over the sounds of a sputtering Jinki and a shrieking Taemin in the background. Kibum thought these reactions surprisingly mild, considering the suddenness of his and Minho’s announcement.

“Don’t be pedantic.” He chided, leaning back into the crook of Minho’s arm as they lay in what used to be a perfectly made hotel bed. “It is what it is. What we want it to be.”

The sheets were moss green, complementing the chestnut brown of Minho’s hair and the golden tan of his skin as he slept on, blissfully unaware of the chaos unfolding within the realm of SHINee’s dorm. Kibum reaches out to tuck a stray tendril behind his ear.

“Congratulations then, I guess? Though a bit of a heads up would have saved Jinki the heart attack.”

Kibum presses his phone into his ear as he turns to lie on his side, facing his… impromptu fiancé? “Thanks. You guys are still invited to the reception. My place. Ten tonight.”

After he hangs up, he inhales. Beneath the scent of his and Minho’s morning champagne breath is the musk of last night’s sex. He moves in closer and Minho opens up for him, arms enveloping him, the embrace as safe and sound as it’s always been.


End file.
